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Petition Errors Cited In Planning Amendment Case

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The Associated Press

Published: August 7, 2008

WEST PALM BEACH - Supporters of a proposed Florida constitutional amendment requiring voters to approve changes in local growth management plans told a federal judge Wednesday that a host of discrepancies and problems improperly blocked the measure from the November ballot.

Among problems described in testimony before U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra were mistakes in double-counting invalid voter petitions, widely disparate standards used by the state's 67 election supervisors and suspiciously high rejection patterns in some counties.

"It was just a myriad of problems," said Barbara Herrin, a former New Smyrna Beach banker who closely tracked the petitions for the Florida Hometown Democracy Inc. group. "Some were human, and some were system problems."

Herrin also said between 7,000 and 10,000 signed voter petitions the group submitted were not accounted for at several county elections supervisor offices.

Florida Hometown Democracy failed to collect enough valid signatures by the state's Feb. 1 deadline to get its proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot. State officials said the group was well short of the 611,009 needed at the time.

The count on the state's Web site Wednesday was still short at 599,921, but that's after subtracting 13,247 revoked signatures - enough to put the initiative over the threshold. A state appellate court in April said those signatures should be counted because a law that allowed people to take them back was unconstitutional. That ruling, though, is on appeal to the Florida Supreme Court.

The amendment would require voter approval of changes in growth management plans that determine how and where cities and counties expand. It has been fiercely opposed by business interests, who say it would undermine economic growth, while backers say it would place much-needed brakes on sprawl.

Florida Hometown Democracy wants Marra to order the measure placed on this year's ballot and to strike down the Feb. 1 signature deadline, which was enshrined in the Florida Constitution in 2004 by the state's voters. The group contends the new deadline violates the U.S. Constitution.

Attorneys for Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning, named as defendant in the case, argued that there is no federal right to amend the Florida Constitution and that it's up to the state to determine its own rules for proposed amendments.

The state's lone witness, Division of Elections assistant director Sarah Jane Bradshaw, said the agency has no legal authority over the county elections supervisors and can only issue guidelines on handling voter petition drives.

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